Two Poems by Lynda Tavakoli

 

BAIT

 

 

He left for food -  

a bag of flour - 

 

and because he could not run 

like others ran, 

 

he returned to them, 

a bagful now, 

 

of something else.

SPEAKING TO A BLIND WORLD 

 

 

see the ragdoll children 

 

those stillborn foals of war 

charred black by birthings of fire 

 

and see them slide between the hands  

of their redeemers 

  

slipping through practised fingers 

among the clean up 

 

 

  

I need to acknowledge it  

 

this human road kill 

this abomination 

 

this reminder  

of what we are witness to 

 

when silence itself  

remains blind to its own truth

Lynda Tavakoli lives in County Down, Northern Ireland, where she facilitates an adult creative writing class and is a tutor for the Seamus Heaney Award for schools.

A poet, novelist and freelance journalist, Lynda’s writings have been published in the UK, Ireland, the US and the Middle East, with Farsi and Spanish translations. She has been winner of both poetry and short story prizes in Listowel, The Westival International Poetry Prize and runner- up in The Blackwater International Poetry Competition and Roscommon Poetry Competition.

Her poems have also appeared in The Irish Times, New Irish Writing. Lynda’s debut poetry collection, ‘The Boiling Point for Jam’ is published by Arlen House.